The Upper Hand
by InSilva
Summary: Early Danny and Rusty in “Body and Soul” verse. Crossing the wrong people is never pain-free. Rated for violence and profanity. One-shot.


The Upper Hand by InSilva

Disclaimer: the boys aren't mine. I'm not a hundred percent sure we're actually on speaking terms anymore.

Summary: early Danny and Rusty in "Body and Soul" verse. Crossing the wrong people is never pain-free. Rated for violence and profanity.

* * *

"Good evening, gentlemen."

As the hoods are pulled off – and what a new experience that is – Danny recognises Liam Barrowby's voice and reflects that the ostensibly polite address does not bode well. He shoots a glance at Rusty who's thinking the same thing. Terrific. So much for a quiet drink before they blew town.

Edgar "The Shark" Barrowby steps into view. Tall like his twin but stockier, wearing his ginger hair in a buzzcut. If that isn't enough to tell them apart, there's the fact that Edgar used to box and his nose has been broken whereas Liam's is still as aquiline as nature intended.

Danny hears Rusty exhale slowly and looks where he's looking. Over Edgar's shoulder and behind Liam, towards the middle of the room. He wishes he hadn't followed Rusty's gaze. He really wishes he hadn't. He swallows hard and tries a little charm.

"Guess you're still a little mad over the poker game, huh?"

Danny directs the question at Liam who smiles encouragingly and Edgar's fist comes from nowhere to connect with Rusty's mouth. Rusty staggers back into waiting hands and Danny can see him shaking his head to clear it. Rusty's tongue flicks out to lick at the blood and Danny controls the wince.

He turns back to Liam because if God gave Edgar the brawn, there's no doubting where the brains ended up.

"There's really no need for any unpleasantness," Danny goes on, "this was simply a-"

He is cut off by Edgar throwing another punch at Rusty's mouth. The other side. Opening it up and letting the blood flow from there too. Danny sees the pain that Rusty won't show and he hears Liam saying, "Do go on, please".

Danny's mouth sets shut tightly because he realises exactly how Liam's going to play this.

"Anything you want to say?" Liam asks Rusty.

There are several quick lines burning through Rusty but Danny knows he's worked this one out too and he shakes his head.

"Good. Over here."

They walk forward slowly, encouraged by the heavies behind them and both of them are busy looking for ways out. None. And they can't talk an escape either.

_You OK?_

_Just dandy._

_Rus…_

"Take a good look, gentlemen."

They stare down at the empty box. Danny refuses to let any other name enter his head. It's a packing crate, after all. Just a packing crate on a concrete floor.

"If one of you would like to get in," Liam suggests and Danny wonders if he'd look more menacing with Edgar's buzzcut. Somehow he doubts it.

They both start forward but Danny is slightly quicker and Rusty is held back as Danny climbs awkwardly into the crate, lying on his back, looking up at a circle of not so friendly faces and Rusty. Rusty, who is not dealing well with this. Not dealing well with Danny lying in a wooden box.

_It's OK…_

_Like hell._

It's roomier than Danny thought and he catches sight of a series of air holes to the right hand side of his head. Air holes. And room. This was about scaring him, nothing more.

_It's nothing, _he reassures silently. _It's OK._

And then Liam says, "You too" and heavy hands push Rusty forward, sending him sprawling clumsily on top of Danny, winding him.

"Sorry," Rusty mutters.

He starts to move off Danny but there is a foot on his back, pressing him into place.

"Get comfortable, gentlemen. You have eternity and I have a lid that needs to go on."

It's awkward but there's just about space and there's room and convenience and not a little comfort as Danny wraps his arms around Rusty and Rusty's head rests on Danny's shoulder.

Their legs are another matter. They balance hipbone to uncomfortable hipbone and then Rusty shifts his weight slightly and slips one leg inside Danny's.

"Other side, Rus," Danny hisses but before Rusty can move, there is a lid dropped and nailed on top of them, pressing Rusty even closer to Danny.

It's mostly dark but there's light around Danny's face and then it's blocked out as he focuses on Liam's face the other side of the wood.

"Enjoy yourselves. We'll be back to bury you in the morning."

Footsteps walk away and the light goes out and they're left with the box and the dark and each other.

Rusty's hands find the bottom of the box and he braces his back against the lid and pushes with all his might. His body comes back to Danny's. He repeats the action over and over, thrusting himself upwards, but nothing is shifting, nothing is happening, except…

"Rus! Rusty!" Danny's voice is urgent and only partly joking and his hands tighten on Rusty's arms. "You might want to quit that or we're going to have a different kind of problem on our hands."

"Control yourself," Rusty pants but he stops all the same, his mouth near Danny's so that Danny can feel warm breath on his face.

Something drops on to Danny's lips and his tongue automatically claims it.

"Your mouth's still bleeding," he points out.

"Yeah."

And it's quiet and he doesn't say "Tell me something I don't know" and Danny can feel the tension building, rising up through Rusty's body, up through his legs and his back and his shoulders. He knows without seeing that Rusty's eyes are closed. He knows Rusty's pushing away the fear. But he also knows Rusty: and Rusty is very close to losing it.

Instinctively, Danny does the one thing he can do given that words aren't going to be helpful. He kisses him. Lips on lips, mouth on mouth and he feels Rusty coming back to him; slowly, surely, returning to him. They break and Danny licks Rusty's blood off his own lips again.

"It was either that or slap you and there isn't room for that," he explains and can picture the answering grin.

"Any excuse." Rusty is definitely back to being Rusty. "What have we got?"

"Pen, keys, loose change. You?"

"Similar."

"No Swiss Army knife?"

"Swiss Army took it off me."

"Why do I believe that?"

It's heating up in there and Danny can feel the sweat running down his body. By morning, they are not going to be in good shape. Hell, in a couple of hours, they are not going to be in good shape. They need to do something now.

"Rus, get across to the air holes. Let me know what you think."

It takes some shifting and sliding but Rusty manages to push his face and left hand up against their air source. He tries an experimental punch but he can't manage more than a weak tap.

"Back," Rusty says and they shimmy into their original positions. As they do so, Danny remembers the bar and earlier and the girl and "Match me" and-

"Matches."

"Where?"

"Inside left."

Rusty's fingers close round them.

"You couldn't remember these earlier?" he scolds.

Danny takes them off him.

"Must have had other things on my mind. Give me some room."

With difficulty, Rusty works his way down Danny's body till his head is resting on Danny's thigh.

"Little bit higher, Rus. I can do without the distraction."

"I'm distracting? You're trying to break us out of…here…and _I'm _distracting?"

Danny feels the pressure of Rusty's face pressed close to him and rolls his eyes.

"Believe it."

There's a sound suspiciously like a snicker and Rusty rests his head against Danny's stomach.

"Better?"

There's warm breath burning through his shirt.

"Barely."

"Get on with it."

Danny tries. Three times he lights matches and introduces them to the air holes and three times nothing happens. Three times, nothing catches.

"How many?" Rusty asks.

"Four left," Danny says, fingering them.

"Let me try."

"You think I can't-"

"Let me try."

They manoeuvre until they're face to face again.

"I think I know what I'm doing," Danny scowls and Rusty silences him with a kiss of his own. Hard and sweaty and brief.

"Did it seem like I needed it?" Danny wonders aloud.

"It was for luck," Rusty says firmly.

Danny chuckles. "You're a little short for a Stormtrooper. You do know that."

"Move."

He pushes Danny down his body until Danny's face is somewhere beneath Rusty's ribcage and his arms are around Rusty's thighs.

Rusty examines the air holes. The wood isn't thick but it isn't thin either and he ideally needs some sort of accelerant – lighter fuel or alcohol would do… Unfortunately, he's fresh out.

Something rustles in his pocket and he fishes out a handful of sweet papers. Worth a try. He stuffs the air holes and lights a match and watches the papers catch. They burn down into nothing but there's a spark that embeds itself in the wood. Rusty blows precious oxygen to keep it alight, feeding it with air that he can ill afford to spare.

It takes a moment. A moment when he seriously doubts it's going to work and then the wood smoulders and there is a glow and it's working…it's working…

"We're in business," he says and feels Danny nod.

The fire is slow and agonising but it grows, it builds and now the air holes disappear and it's gently licking around the space and there's a fine balance now between escape and immolation.

With difficulty, Rusty wraps his tie round his hand and makes the limited room count and punches the top part of the plank away. The fire is eating down the side now and he twists slightly so that he can strike harder through the burning wood. Rusty smacks out the flames and then opens up a bigger hole, working on the end of the jagged plank, over and over, and ignoring the pain.

Air floods in and Rusty pulls Danny up so that he can take a deep breath.

"Together," Danny says and between them they push and kick the panels of wood away from the side, forcing each piece out until first Rusty and then Danny can slip out of the side and lie on cold concrete that has never felt so damn good.

After a moment or two, Danny asks "Shall we?" and Rusty rolls to his feet, holding out a hand.

They travel to the only exit there is. They listen but there is no noise and Danny tries the handle. It gives.

"Lucky," Danny smiles.

Then they walk through the door and discover luck has nothing to do with it.

"Fuck," says Rusty with feeling.

"A little over twenty-five minutes. Most resourceful," Liam congratulates them. "Do come and join us."

They are sat round three tables with drinks and there is an area cleared in the middle that seems to have purpose. Rusty and Danny are both fairly certain they're not going to be offered cocktails.

Liam gets to his feet and looks them over.

"We have a reputation, gentlemen. A strong reputation to uphold. And we do not take kindly to having a couple of…kids…showing us up on our own turf. However impressively. So we need to make an impression of our own on any who try it. That," and Liam jerks his head back to the room with the packing crate, "was something to remember me by. And this is something to make Edgar stick in the memory."

Edgar is smiling as only a man who enjoys inflicting pain and who is about to be given the opportunity to do just that can do.

"One of you up against Edgar," Liam outlines and, as they both start forward, adds, "Edgar chooses."

Edgar stands in front of Rusty and reaches out, tilting his chin from side to side, inspecting the earlier damage inflicted. It is a gesture Rusty hates and he grits his teeth and tries not to give in to the desire to jerk his head away. Then Edgar takes hold of Rusty's hand and examines the bleeding knuckles.

"This one," he says indicating Danny and Danny is pulled forward as Liam beckons Rusty to his side.

"Three rounds," Liam instructs Danny. "Make it to the end of round two and we let you go. Make it the end of round three and your partner goes free."

Danny's eyes travel to Rusty and Rusty is not smiling.

_Nine minutes…can't be too bad, right?_

_At the risk of repeating myself, like hell._

It is bad. It is worse than bad. It is a young man going up against an older man with all the differences in power and weight and knowledge that implies. More than that, it is an amateur going up against an ex-professional who can deliver swift and painful blows and however quick Danny is, Edgar is quicker. Danny lands some lucky punches but they're few and far between and they glance off Edgar who has faced much worse in his time.

The end of the first round sees Danny on the floor and being dragged to his feet by an obliging pair of hands. There is no respite as round two starts at once.

Rusty feels his stomach knotting as uppercuts and jabs bury themselves into Danny and he turns to Liam.

"Look. We made a mistake. We can see that. And we're sorry, we're really, really sorry. But we _are_ resourceful – you said that yourself –"

"And tenacious," Liam remarks mildly as another blow connects with Danny's jaw.

"Yeah, that too," Rusty agrees, also seeing it and burying the flinch. "So maybe we could-"

"Cut a deal?" Liam shakes his head and turns to him and the smile and the polite façade have disappeared. "Let me tell you something. We do not appreciate two jumped-up, slick little sons of bitches, operating with oily charm and schmooze to spare, thinking they can take us on. You are boys. And that is the only reason we're not getting serious about this. Understand?"

"Yes," Rusty says heavily not wanting to think what "serious" would mean.

"Good." Liam looks back at the one-sided fight and then down at his watch. "Oh my, I lost track of this round. Better start over. What do you say?"

Protest and anger and remonstration die on Rusty's lips because he can see Liam wants all of that and more.

"I guess," he manages and stands in aching silence as Edgar's fist thunders into Danny's stomach.

The second round ends eventually and Rusty sees Danny's eyes rolling and then focusing on him.

_Don't bother._

_Quit and get out. I'll fight for myself._

_Not happening._

"What's it to be?" Liam asks.

"Let's get it over with," Danny says, spitting blood.

* * *

The third round consists of possibly the longest three minutes Rusty can remember. By the end of it, Danny is mostly blood and cuts and when he falls to the floor this time, Edgar goes to work with his feet, administering kicks to Danny's body with relish.

Rusty makes himself watch. Makes himself watch and locks down on the anger and the pain and anything that is not going to be useful because all he is focused on is getting Danny out of there.

"Enough," Liam announces finally. "They can go."

Immediately, Rusty moves forward and pulls Danny up and to his feet and supports him as he starts walking as fast as he can to the door at the bottom of the room and freedom.

"Think twice before you play in our town again, gentlemen," Liam calls after them and there is chuckling and even a guffaw from Edgar. It all echoes hollowly in Rusty's ears.

* * *

Danny passes in and out of consciousness and his groans do not make pleasant listening. Rusty loads Danny into the car and he drives. He's not stopping until they reach the next big town just in case Liam and Edgar think they haven't got the message.

At last, there's a motel room and water and towels and pain-killers and ice and when Rusty can make out Danny from the welts and the bruises, he considers it a personal triumph. He sits and watches Danny breathing shallowly and he plans.

* * *

It's morning and Danny opens swollen eyes in a face that feels far too tight. He smiles when he sees Rusty and tries not to moan at the pain as he does so.

"Hey."

"Hey."

There is no banter in Rusty's voice and Danny looks at him sharply.

"Tell me."

A night full of empty anger and hurt floods out.

"I'm going to-"

"No." Danny's voice is surprisingly firm.

"Then _we're_ going to-"

"No, we're not," Danny rasps. "We draw a line under this one."

"But…Danny…"

"Liam was right. We were young and stupid to take them on in the first place. This is their town."

"We just let this go?" Rusty's voice is disbelieving.

"We let it go. We learn the lesson." He looks at Rusty. "If we try anything-"

"-they'll get serious." Rusty closes his eyes, picturing it. There is a long pause. "OK."

"OK."

Silence.

"I hate it when you're right."

"I'm always right."

"You're mostly right."

"I'm mostly right," Danny accepts.

"Shut up and heal. I'm going to find us some food."

Gratefully, Danny closes his eyes and rests.

Rusty stands at the door, looks back at his partner and thinks about the packing crate and the unfair fight. Regretfully, he lets his second thought go. Revenge can wait. Danny can't.


End file.
